


Sarah Williams, Intern to Villainy (Unpaid)

by JackHawksmoor



Category: Labyrinth (1986)
Genre: Adventure & Romance, Eventual Smut, F/M, Humor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-24
Updated: 2020-05-24
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:29:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,607
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24355834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JackHawksmoor/pseuds/JackHawksmoor
Summary: Three separate people were running the Labyrinth all at once. Jareth would take all the help he could get- even if Sarah insisted she wouldn't wear the tight pants. Or the cape.
Relationships: Jareth & Sarah Williams, Jareth/Sarah Williams
Comments: 19
Kudos: 112
Collections: Labyrinth





	Sarah Williams, Intern to Villainy (Unpaid)

Sarah slapped her hands down on the counter. The baby's eyes went wide. She leaned toward him and bared her teeth.  
  
"I will never let you go, said the dragon." Sarah snapped her teeth expressively. "Never, never never. I will keep you with my treasures."  
  
Lucas was two, which was old enough to be impressed by that. He gasped.  
  
"But, the girl was very clever," Sarah continued. "She waited until the dragon slept...and then she stole the jewel that held the heart of his evil magic!" There was a basket of oranges on the counter, and Sarah snatched it up as she spoke, hunching over it in her best sneaky-jewel-thief-type-manner. "She crept out of the dragon's lair-"   
  
The kitchen door clicked. Sarah immediately straightened out of her expressive crouch and attempted to look like an adult. Lucas looked at her doubtfully, not buying it.  
  
"Sarah?" Sarah's roommate nudged the door open, grocery bags in each hand.  
  
"Hey, Christine." Sarah took one of the oranges out of the basket and handed it to Lucas with a wink. "Guard the jewel," she whispered, setting the rest of the basket back on the counter.  
  
Lucas held it close and gave her a determined expression, like he was perfectly capable of fighting that dragon all on his own if he had to.   
  
Sarah looked at Christine over his head. "Did you get the good coffee?" Sarah rounded the counter and started poking her nose in the bags.  
  
"Forty dollars for a pound," Christine said, meaning 'yes but _jesus_ '. "Thanks for looking after Lucas so I could shop, his parents don't get back until after midnight tonight and he's a monster at the grocery store."  
  
"No problem," Sarah said with a shrug. "Were you still going out after you drop Lucas off?" Sarah tried not to sound like she wanted Christine out of the house, but she'd promised to show some of the goblins the 'Alien' movies a week ago, and if she put it off much longer she knew from experience that they would get irritated and start stealing her stuff. She was not buying new makeup _again_.  
  
"Yeah, I-"   
  
Lucas chose that moment to abandon his responsibilities guarding the sacred jewel and chuck it at their heads. Luckily, he had terrible aim.   
  
"Lucas!" Christine exclaimed.  
  
He regarded the two of them with the dispassionate eye of someone thinking 'I can do better'. He reached toward the orange basket for more ammo.  
  
"Right!" Christine said, rubbing her hands together. "Bed for you."  
  
Lucas gave an outraged howl as Christine scooped him up. She headed toward the bedroom, leaving an increasingly loud series of high-pitiched 'no's in her wake.  
  
Sarah put the groceries away and turned on the coffee pot, flinching occasionally at the noise. About ten minutes of toddler outrage later, Christine came out and sat down heavily on one of the stools. Sarah rounded the counter and sat beside her, wordlessly handing her a mug with a picture of Princess Leia on the side.   
  
Christine lifted it slightly. "To side hustles," she said, looking frazzled.  
  
Sarah tinked their mugs together. Sarah had the baby Yoda one this time, because she'd made the coffee.  
  
"Were you telling Lucas the Goblin King story?" Christine asked. "He kept talking about dragons." Christine frowned at her coffee. "I hate how good this is."  
  
"You're just cheap. And no, different story," Sarah smiled. "Equally true, but different."  
  
"Ha-ha," Christine's voice was dry.  
  
"Yeah, well, you didn't see the size of the dragon," Sarah muttered into the rim of her mug.   
  
Lucas let out an inhuman screech, and Sarah spilled her coffee down the front of her shirt. Christine made an admirable effort to not laugh.  
  
"I'll get him." She pushed herself away from the counter with a sigh. "Ha, I wish the goblins would come and take _Lucas_ away-"  
  
Sarah snapped to attention with a thrill of alarm.  
  
"-right now- "  
  
Sarah made a wild lunge, and slapped her hand over Christine's mouth half a second too late. Her mug shattered impressively on the floor, along with Sarah's good mood, her plans for the evening, and possibly her friendship with her roommate.  
  
" _E-sus_ , Sarah," Christine mumbled against Sarah's fingers.  
  
The lights went out, and the apartment went abruptly and completely silent.  
  
Sarah shut her eyes, tilted her head back, and had a brief, unsatisfying conversation with the Lord about her luck.   
  
"Why did you do that?" she ground out between her teeth. "I told you that story, why would you ever-"  
  
Christine gasped. Sarah opened her eyes. She blinked through a billowing cloud of glitter and saw a very surprised-looking man in about five thousand dollars worth of leather clothing, with an eyeshadow game that would have made Pat Mcgrath weep with envy. He was a lot prettier than she remembered him being.  
  
Sarah's friends from the Labyrinth came by on a fairly regular basis, but she hadn't so much as laid eyes on Jareth since the day she'd told him he had no power over her and won her brother back.   
  
The Goblin King stared at her. Sarah stared at him.  
  
"Shit," they said together.  
  
Christine backed up a step and threw a terrified look at Sarah. It was one of those 'please tell me this isn't real' expressions. Christine knew this story. She knew a lot of Sarah's stories, she just hadn't believed any of them.  
  
Sarah sighed and sort of half-heartedly reached out. "Christine..." Her voice was regretful and sympathetic, as if she were about to explain to a small child that Santa didn't exist, except backwards.  
  
Christine's eyes went huge. She raised her voice to an impressive volume. "Lucas?" She called, and tore off toward the bedroom.  
  
Sarah and Jareth were left standing there rather awkwardly. They both kind of looked aimlessly around the room, trying to avoid eye contact. The feeling was oddly similar to running into an ex-boyfriend at the grocery store, which was a patently insane thing to think.  
  
Sarah's eyes caught on the broken mug on the floor. "Can I get you some coffee?" She asked, because why not.   
  
Down the hall she heard familiar goblin giggling, and then a shocked yelp from Christine. "What _is_ that-"   
  
Sarah heard something that sounded suspiciously like a lamp being thrown at some undoubtedly startled goblins. Having experienced Christine's temper firsthand, she felt a brief flash of pity for them.  
  
"We have cinnamon rolls, too, if you'd like," Sarah continued smoothly.  
  
Jareth looked taken aback. He made a small motion, as if he wanted to check and see if she was talking to someone behind him. "How...generous," he said, finally.   
  
Sarah felt a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth, despite her better judgement. "Well, you would know," she said dryly.  
  
There was an impressive crash from the bedroom. She went to get another cup.  
  
When she turned back around, Jareth handed her the baby Yoda mug. Despite the fact that Sarah had shattered it on the tile, the mug looked brand new; It didn't have a single chip on it.  
  
Sarah took the mug with a sigh, turning it in her hands. It almost -almost- felt like an apology.  
  
She looked up at him, realizing with a little jolt that his eyes were different colors. She'd forgotten about that. When they'd danced she'd been pretty much out of her head, but she'd stared into his eyes quite a bit. She remembered thinking that they were lovely, and faced with him a second time, she couldn't fault fifteen-year-old-Sarah's taste.  
  
He'd looked sad, in the ballroom, when she had broken away from him. She'd forgotten about that, too.  
  
"You could just let Lucas go," Sarah said, going for broke. He raised an eyebrow at her. "You could!" she insisted.  
  
Jareth made a little *tssk* noise. "You know the rules as well as I do. What's said is said." Then he glanced over her shoulder at the coffee maker, suddenly hesitant. "I suppose that means coffee and pastries are out of the question?"  
  
Down the hall, Christine was cursing impressively, and Sarah saw several tiny goblins retreat in terror from the bedroom into the bathroom.  
  
Sarah huffed out a breath. She grabbed the plastic bakery container of cinnamon rolls and set it in front of him with a little more force that she strictly needed to. "If you can't let him go, can you at least let me try to win Lucas back for Christine? They're not even related, she's just babysitting for extra money."  
  
A moment later she put down the refilled Yoda mug on her side of the counter, and a sparkly unicorn mug on his side of the counter. It seemed appropriate.  
  
"Sarah," Jareth said, sounding weary, "I have a limo driver running the Labyrinth right this moment who wished away his boss' dog; Believe me, blood relations have nothing to do with it."  
  
Sarah froze with the creamer in her hand. "Their boss' dog?" Sarah repeated, mystified. "Why?"   
  
"Something about excess hair," Jareth said, with a careless shrug. He turned his glittery mug a little, admiring it. It suddenly gained a bit more sparkle, and the unicorn picked up a pair of little red jewels for eyes. Satisfied with the new level of bling, Jareth sipped at his coffee.   
  
"Oh, that's lovely," he said, surprised.  
  
"Right?" Sarah hesitated, thinking. "You know, if you did let me run the Labyrinth for Christine, I could bring the whole bag and just," she made finger quotes, "...'accidentally'...leave it somewhere."  
  
Jareth gave her an admiring glance. "Bribery, is it? How villainous. Sarah, I'm shocked." From his expression, Sarah thought the word he was actually looking for was 'delighted'.   
  
"That wasn't a 'no'," Sarah reminded him.  
  
His eyes dropped to his cup, and for a moment he actually looked tempted. "...I can't. Even if I could let you in as a substitute runner, I have no power over you, remember? You would stroll right up to my front door."  
  
"Sounds good to me," she said lightly.  
  
A goblin wearing an over-large helmet melted out of the shadows behind the couch in the living room and dashed down the hall, cackling to itself. It hit the lamp and knocked itself off his feet. When it stood up the helmet was facing the wrong direction, leaving him blind. Ignoring this, he got to his feet and charged, presumably intending to continue towards the bedroom.   
  
He was unfortunately facing the wrong direction, and ran past them, smacking into the kitchen door. He flung the door open and ran out into the night.  
  
Both Sarah and Jareth stared at the open door for a moment.  
  
"You know," Jareth said with a sigh, "speaking to you might be the longest conversation I've had in years with someone who isn't an imbecile." He turned back to her, and she had the sense that he was somehow setting something aside. His body language relaxed into something more casual.  
  
"Can I be frank with you?"  
  
"You can do anything if you believe in yourself," Sarah said, raising her eyebrows.  
  
He smiled at her as if it had been quite a while since he'd enjoyed himself.   
  
You could really tell he was supposed to be a villain when he smiled, Sarah thought. It was sort of sharp and wicked-looking. Someone who went around houses at Halloween going 'trick or trick'.  
  
_Was he always this attractive, or did I forget out of self-preservation?_  
  
"Today? If I could let little Lucas go, I would," Jareth hesitated, glancing at her, "for...old time's sake...I would."  
  
Sarah straightened, startled.  
  
"Right now, there's someone else who's thinking of saying the words. They've been thinking about it all day." Jareth briefly shut his eyes, as if he was listening to something. Sarah got a prickly feeling on her skin.  
  
After a moment, he nodded to himself, like he was a sommelier identifying what type of wine was in his glass.   
  
"If they make it to morning without sending me someone, I'll be shocked. Having two runners in the Labyrinth at the same time is already a nightmare, trying to keep them from running into each other. Three? It'll be chaos."  
  
He sighed, looking a bit worn out. Sarah was actually starting to feel a little sorry for him. "You really can't do anything, can you."  
  
Jareth scoffed. "Lets just say I'm finding it hard to believe I once thought just dealing with you was exhausting."   
  
Silently, Sarah opened the container of cinnamon rolls and slid it toward him, picking one out for herself.   
  
Christine burst out of the bedroom, dragging a violently struggling goblin. "Now you listen to me, Goblin King, you give me Lucas back or so help me, I will kill this thing-"  
  
She saw the two of them and stopped dead.  
  
Jareth sipped at his coffee. Sarah had just taken a rather large bite of her cinnamon roll and made an effort to talk around it without spraying food everywhere.  
  
"You want one?" She asked, lifting up the container.  
  
"What," Christine sputtered, "are you doing?"  
  
Sarah eyed the unhappy goblin Christine had snagged by one foot. "Waiting for you to finish kicking Nobby's ass, apparently."  
  
"You know this little weasel?" Christine held him up a bit.  
  
Nobby gave Sarah a pleading look.  
  
"Don't expect me to save you," Sarah said irritably, "I know you're the one who stole my pigment palette from Sephora, you're wearing 'mercury rising' right now!"  
  
Nobby tried to discreetly wipe at his eyelids.  
  
"Sarah, he helped steal Lucas, and you're just standing there hanging out." Christine's voice went low and tight. "Make them give him back."  
  
"Come, come, Christine," Jareth chided. "Sarah is engaging in a time-honored tradition of bribery, sympathy, and persuasion, and I'd say she's doing rather well."   
  
He flashed Sarah an extremely pointy smile. Christine gave Sarah a dirty look.  
  
"What if I helped you both?" Sarah said thoughtfully.  
  
Jareth and Christine looked at each other, then back at Sarah. "And how do you think you'll do that?" Jareth asked, curious.  
  
"I'll come with you, to the castle beyond the Goblin City," Sarah offered. "I'll help you keep track of the other runners so they don't get in each other's way, and I'll help look after Lucas." She folded her arms and her voice turned imperious. "In return, I get to help Christine."  
  
Jareth opened his mouth, looking stormy, and Sarah rushed to finish before he could say anything.  
  
"Not all the time," she said quickly. "I'll stay with you in the castle, but if she gets stuck she can call me, and I'll go to her. Say, three times."  
  
"I have goblins to look after the child," Jareth was going for dismissive, but Sarah could tell just by the expression on his face that he was interested.  
  
She leaned on the counter and gave him a sly look. "But what you don't have is someone besides yourself who isn't...how did you put it? 'An imbecile'."  
  
Nobby made an outraged sound. Everyone ignored him.  
  
"So you'll have to keep track of three separate runners at the same time, all by yourself," Sarah added a slightly singsong-y lilt to the last three words. "The goblins won't be able to help you keep everything straight, they'll probably be confused and making everything worse. You need a hand." She smiled, trying on a bit of charm. "I can help you."  
  
Jareth looked like someone who hadn't seen a cloudless night in his whole life had just stepped outside and saw the stars for the first time.  
  
"Sarah," he said in utter delight. "What a deviously clever thing you've grown up to be." He gave her a wicked, brilliant grin.   
  
Given his expression, Sarah was encouraged about her chances. "Do we have a deal then?" She prompted.  
  
He tapped his chin with a finger, looking thoughtful.  
  
Jareth turned swiftly to face Christine, his cape flaring dramatically. "You have 13 hours to solve the Labyrinth," he told her. "If you agree to accept Sarah's help, it will cost you one hour for every one minute of assistance from her."   
  
Christine's mouth dropped open. "An hour a minute?"  
  
Sarah sputtered in outrage. "That's highway robbery!"  
  
"If you don't think Sarah's help is worth it," Jareth said, turning from Christine and looking directly into Sarah's eyes with a challenging expression, "then refuse it now." He looked back at Christine, his clothes starting to drip glitter on the floor. "And take your chances." He gestured with one hand and the window opened, the curtains blowing aside, revealing a familiar sight.  
  
The Labyrinth was as golden and otherworldly as Sarah remembered it being. The sky above it was brilliantly orange, like the ten minutes after dawn on a cloudy day. It also, she admitted to herself, looked intimidating as hell. If she'd had someone to go to for advice when she'd been trying to solve the Labyrinth, it would have helped her enormously, even if it had cost her time. Just being snippy had cost her time, and she hadn't even gotten any help in exchange for it.  
  
Christine was openly gaping. Nobby slipped out of her grasp and dropped to the floor. He wisely made a run for it.  
  
"I haven't got all day," Jareth prodded, his voice sharper. The apartment had gotten darker, the floor and the walls around them starting to sparkle, as if he was dragging more of his magic inside.  
  
Christine glanced over at Sarah, nervous. "Should I-"  
  
"Ah-ah!" Jareth scolded sharply, stepping between them. "It's your decision to make."  
  
Sarah leaned her head out from behind the lapels of Jareth's admittedly impressive cape. _Do it_ , she mouthed.  
  
Christine bit her lip. She nodded. "Yes."  
  
Jareth swept his arms out, and all three of them were standing on the hill Sarah had started her own run on, all those years ago.  
  
Christine took a deep breath and clenched her fists. She looked back at Sarah. Jareth once again moved to block Sarah from view.  
  
Jareth pointed his finger at Christine, sternly. "And don't even think of trying to cheat and use Sarah's good name to get my subjects on your side."  
  
Sarah poked her head out from behind him. _Cheat_ , she mouthed in an exaggerated way. Jareth turned his head sharply and gave Sarah a dirty look.  
  
"Right," Christine said, looking resolved. "See you soon, Sarah." She narrowed her eyes at Jareth. Her tone turned menacing. "I'll be seeing _you_ again, too."  
  
She turned from them and marched off towards the gate like she was intending to knock it down through sheer force of will.  
  
"In the interests of full disclosure, Christine has been known to hold a grudge," Sarah said, once she'd gotten out of hearing distance. He didn't say anything in response.  
  
Jareth wasn't looking at her. He was staring rather intently up at the sky. There was something tense and expectant about his body language.  
  
"Jareth?"  
  
"Shh," he hushed sharply, holding his hand up.  
  
Sarah quieted. He didn't say anything further, just stood there with his face tilted to the clouds. The moment stretched and Sarah scratched at her elbow, looking around awkwardly. She kicked at the dirt with the toe of her shoe.  
  
"Damn," Jareth said finally.  
  
"What is it?"   
  
Ignoring her, Jareth tossed his cloak back in a sharp motion. Two little goblins melted out of the depths of it, as if the dark shadows cast by the folds of fabric were somehow hiding them.   
  
_Fashion by Time Lords, guaranteed bigger on the inside._ Sarah snickered to herself a little.  
  
The goblins hopped around excitedly. "He's going to say the words!" they yipped, sounding a bit like a pair of worked up chihuahuas.  
  
"Go," Jareth snapped, businesslike. She half expected them to jump back into his cape like a couple of baby kangaroos, but instead they darted up the hill, out of sight.  
  
Jareth turned his head sharply toward Sarah, and blatantly looked her up and down. He didn't seem particularly impressed.  
  
"What?" Sarah said defensively, glancing down at herself. She brushed at the coffee stain on her shirt.  
  
Jareth crossed his palms in a fluid motion, drawing them apart to reveal one of his crystals."You're going to need to look the part, if you're coming along." He tossed it to her, and she caught it on reflex.  
  
"Coming along?" she repeated, fumbling with it. "But I...thought..." Sarah stopped, staring down at herself in shock. She was wearing a rather impressive black gown with a lot of tulle; It was fairly dripping with glitter. There were white feathers in a fluffy ruff around the back of her collar. It certainly looked like the kind of dress that would belong to someone who'd steal children away.  
  
She put her hands on her hips. "You know, I said I'd wrangle the runners. I didn't agree to an unpaid internship."  
  
Jareth looked irritatingly pleased with himself. She suspected he might have been eyeing her cleavage while she was distracted.  
  
He folded his arms and struck a pose in what Sarah would swear was just a way to get some deliberate drama out of the moment.   
  
"Are you helping, or are you helping?" He raised his eyebrows.   
  
Sarah grumbled under her breath.  
  
Jareth tilted his head towards her and cupped his hand around his ear. "What was that?"   
  
"I said it figures that a villain would approve of unpaid internships," Sarah said loudly. She grabbed her skirts and swished her way over to him. "Let's go."  
  
Jareth gave her a look of utter triumph. With a flash of light and glitter, they were elsewhere.  
  
  
  



End file.
